Commonwealth v. Pittington

55 Va. Cir. 332, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 293
CourtRockingham County Circuit Court
DecidedJune 25, 2001
DocketCase No. 2461
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Va. Cir. 332 (Commonwealth v. Pittington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Rockingham County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Pittington, 55 Va. Cir. 332, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 293 (Va. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

BY JUDGE JOHN J. MCGRATH, JR.

This matter comes before this Court on Defendant’s Motion to Suppress evidence seized from his home under authority of a search warrant. The Defendant contends that a search warrant issued by a magistrate of this Judicial District for a residence in the County of Rockingham, Virginia, is invalid and moves to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of search conducted pursuant to a search warrant

It is well-established that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires that a search warrant “particularly” describe the place to be searched and this requirement is met “if the description is such that the officer with a search warrant can with reasonable effort ascertain and identify die place intended.” See, e.g., Robinson v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 520, 523, 248 S.E.2d 786 (1978) (citing, Steele v. United States, 267 U.S. 498, 503 (1925); United States v. Darensbourg, 520 F.2d 985, 987 (5th Cir. 1975), and cases cited therein; 68 Am. Jur. 2d, Searches and Seizures, § 74 (1973)). Indeed, the Supreme Court of Virginia has held that the same mandate of [333]*333particularity of description and the same test of compliance are applicable under the Fourth Amendment and under the Virginia statutes. See Robinson, at 523 (citing, Manley v. Commonwealth, 211 Va. 146, 151, 176 S.E.2d 309, 314 (1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 936 (1971); Brown and Larson v. Commonwealth, 212 Va. 672, 674, 187 S.E.2d 160, 161 (1972)).

It is also recognized that errors in the description of the premises to be searched will not invalidate a search warrant if there is sufficient information provided in the affidavit and search warrant to lead the officer to the correct address. See Robinson, at 523, (citing, State v. Reynolds, 11 Ariz. App. 532, 466 P.2d 405 (1970) (the premises were described as 1821 East Almeria and the correct address was 1821 East Amelia); State v. Bisaccia, 58 N.J. 586, 279 A.2d 675 (1971) (the premises were described as 371 and the correct number was 375); United States v. DePugh, 452 F.2d 915 (10th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 407 U.S. 920, reh. denied, 409 U.S. 898 (1972); McCormick v. State, 169 Tex. Crim. 53, 331 S.W.2d 307 (1960); United States v. Goodman, 312 F. Supp. 556 (N.D. Ind. 1970); People v. Watson, 26 Ill.2d 203, 186 N.E.2d 326 (1962)). The issue raised by Defendant’s Motion to Suppress is whether the search warrant issued by tile magistrate is invalid because it failed to “particularly” describe the place to be searched such that the officers with the search warrant could not, with reasonable effort ascertain and identify the place intended. See Robinson v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 520, 523, 248 S.E.2d 786 (1978).

The search warrant issued commanded any authorized officer to search “the residence of Elijah Beefree Pittington and all buildings and vehicles on the curtilage located at 4385 Amentrout Path, Keezletown, Va. 22832,” for various stolen equipment and illegal drugs and related paraphernalia as described by the affiant. The attached affidavit further described the place to be searched as “The residence of and all out-buildings and vehicles located on the curtilage at 4385 Armentrout Path, Keezletown, Virginia 22832”; “the residence is... a white single wide trailer with a wooden front deck.”

Trooper Highland executed the search warrant on October 7, 2000, at 6:28 am. Trooper Highland along with several other law enforcement officers conducted a search of the residence and curtilage located at 4495 Amentrout Path, Keezletown, Virginia, the actual residence of the Defendant. Defendant submitted into evidence a photograph of the actual residence of the Defendant at 4495 Armentrout Path, Kezzletown, Virginia, and it does, in fact, meet the description given in Trooper Highland’s attached affidavit of a “white single wide trailer with a wooden front deck.”

However, Defendant asserts that there was no residence located at the address listed on the search warrant as 4385 Armentrout Path, Keezletown, [334]*334Virginia, which is in fact a vacant lot. The Defendant asserts that there is a residence fitting the description contained in the search warrant and attached affidavit in the 4300 block of Armentrout Path (i.e. a single wide white trailer with a wooden front deck). The Defendant has put into evidence a picture of a residence located 4381 Armentrout Path, Keezletown, Virginia, which, in fact, meets the description in the attached affidavit of a “white single wide trailer with a wooden front deck.”

There is sparse jurisprudence available in Virginia precisely on all fours with the present case. A case which seems to this Court to have the most applicability to the current case before this Court is Robinson v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 520, 524, 248 S.E.2d 786 (1978). In Robinson v. Commonwealth, a search warrant was issued authorizing police officers to search “5755 Westover Hills Village, Richmond, Virginia” with an additional description in the affidavit that it was “south of the James.” The Defendant adduced at trial that his correct address at the time of the search was 5755 Westover Village Drive, that his name was Joe Nathan Robinson, not Jonathan Robinson, and that he was not present when the premises were searched. The Defendant in Robinson introduced a map showing that there were four streets whose names included the word “Westover” within the city limits of Richmond: Westover Street (north of the James), Westover Garden, Westover Hill Boulevard, and Westover Village Drive (all south of the James). There was no street named Westover Hills Village. The lower court reasoned that Westover Street and Westover Garden could be eliminated as containing only two words, and as between Westover Village Drive and Westover Hills Boulevard, inclusion of the word “Village” in the street name would lead the officer to Westover Village Drive. Additionally the evidence showed at trial that no street numbers on Westover Hills Boulevard went as high as 5755. The Supreme Court reasoned in Robinson that there was evidence that the Defendant Robinson was sometimes known as Jonathan; that there was nothing in the record to show that any other street with “Westover” in the name had a 5755 number; that there was nothing in the record to show that the officers had any difficulty finding Robinson’s residence or that they engaged in any search of premises or harassment of innocent citizens at any other address; that the record showed that the search warrant was issued at 9:00 p.m. on August 25,1976, that it was executed on the same date, and that the affiant in the supporting affidavit which described the premises as lying south of tire James, participated in the search. Based upon filis reasoning, the Robinson

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Related

Steele v. United States No. 1
267 U.S. 498 (Supreme Court, 1925)
United States v. Leon
468 U.S. 897 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Massachusetts v. Sheppard
468 U.S. 981 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Maryland v. Garrison
480 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court, 1987)
United States v. Robert Bolivar Depugh
452 F.2d 915 (Tenth Circuit, 1972)
United States v. Louis M. Darensbourg
520 F.2d 985 (Fifth Circuit, 1975)
United States v. Glenn Valentine
984 F.2d 906 (Eighth Circuit, 1993)
Polston v. Commonwealth
498 S.E.2d 924 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1998)
State v. Reynolds
466 P.2d 405 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1970)
McCary v. Commonwealth
321 S.E.2d 637 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1984)
Robinson v. Commonwealth
248 S.E.2d 786 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1978)
Manley v. Commonwealth
176 S.E.2d 309 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1970)
Brown v. Commonwealth
187 S.E.2d 160 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1972)
State v. Haught
371 S.E.2d 54 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1988)
Gumina v. State
305 S.E.2d 37 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1983)
Derr v. Commonwealth
410 S.E.2d 662 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1991)
United States v. Goodman
312 F. Supp. 556 (N.D. Indiana, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
55 Va. Cir. 332, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-pittington-vaccrockingham-2001.